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BULLETIN    of    the 

South  Carolina  Botanists: 
Biography  and  BibHography 


By  WILSON  GEE 


'.TMOO 

G36 


ISSUED    MONTHLY 
BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 


No.  72 
Sept.  1918 


COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 

SecoDd-Ctasa  Mail  Matter 


El|e  '§.  p.  pU  pbrarg 


Nortlf  Qlar0lma  ^tate  ((loUege 

G5& 


PREFACE 


The  following  pages  are  with  slight  alteration  the  same 
biographies  of  South  Carolina  Botanists  as  appeared  in 
the  Sunday  News  of  Charleston  at  intervals  during  the 
years  1909  and  1910.  The  data  were  gathered  from  va- 
rious sources  too  numerous  for  individual  acknowledge- 
ment. The  resulting  monograph  was  offered  and  accepted 
in  1910  as  a  thesis  for  the  Master  of  Arts  degree  from  the 
University  of  South  Carolina. 

The  writer  claims  no  exhaustive  or  critical  appreciation 
of  their  work  as  the  result  of  his  efforts.  There  has  been 
brought  together  here  for  the  first  time,  however,  a  sys- 
tematic arrangement  of  the  biographies  and  bibliographies 
of  the  botanists  of  outstanding  note  in  the  state  who  in 
the  past  have  contributed  to  its  reputation  in  botanical 
Hnes. 

He  desires  to  thank  Prof.  A.  C.  Moore  for  the  inspira- 
tion and  help  which  he  gave  to  the  work  and  Prof.  Yates 
Snowden,  that  ardent  and  delightful  devotee  of  things 
South  Carolinian,  for  many  references  and  valuable  sug- 
gestions. There  are  due,  besides,  acknowledgements  to 
many  relatives  for  information  concerning  their  distin- 
guished kinsmen.  The  appreciation  for  these  favors  is 
imperfectly  expressed  in  the  attempt  to  brighten  some- 
what the  lustre  which  already  surrounds  the  memory  of 
the  achievements  of  those  whom  they  revere. 

Wilson  Gee. 

June  14,  1918. 


1X0 


o 


5;ei£3 


South  Carolina  Botanists: 
Biography  and  BibHography 


By  Wilson  Gee 


JOHN  LAWSON 


Probably  the  earliest  attempt  to  catalog  the  plants  of 
the  Carolinas  is  that  of  John  Lawson  in  the  year  1700. 
While  chiefly  a  historian,  for  the  merging  of  natural  his- 
tory in  such  large  proportions  into  his  description  of  the 
province,  he  deserves  mention  among  the  early  botanists, 
who  "attracted  by  the  charms  of  our  fair  land,  were  con- 
tent to  dwell  in  its  midst,"  at  least  long  enough  to  be- 
come familiar  with  a  part  of  its  wonderful  resources. 

John  Lawson,  historian,  was  born  in  Scotland.  He 
came  to  this  country  as  surveyor  general  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  began  his  surveys  in  1700,  but  fell  a  victim  to 
the  jealousy  of  the  Tuscarora  Indians,  who  confused  the 
surveyor  of  their  territory  with  those  that  had  despoiled 
them  of  it.  He  was  captured  while  exploring  North  Car- 
olina in  1712,  in  company  with  a  Swiss  named  Graffen- 
reid.  The  latter  was  allowed  to  purchase  his  freedom, 
but  Lawson  was  put  to  death  in  a  most  cruel  manner. 

He  was  the  author  of  one  of  the  most  valuable  and 
thoroughly  interesting  of  our  early  histories  of  the  Caro- 


Library 
TSr.  C,  State  Collejore 


Unas:  ''The  History  of  Carolina  containing  the  exact  de- 
scription and  natural  history  of  that  country,  together  with 
the  present  state  thereof  and  a  journal  of  a  thousand  miles 
traveled  through  several  yiations  0/  Indians,  giving  a  par- 
ticular account  of  the  customs,  manners,  etc.'' 

The  original  edition  of  this  volume  is  now  very  rare;  it 
was  reprinted  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  however,  in 
1860.  There  is  in  the  library  of  the  University  of  South 
Carolina  a  copy  of  the  edition  of  1718,  an  old  volume  of 
about  258  pages,  octavo  size,  bound  in  half  leather. 

The  dedication  is  to  the  "True  and  Absolute  Lords- 
Proprietors  of  the  Province  of  Carolina  in  America,''  and 
he  thus  addresses  himself  to  them: 

'*My  Lords:  As  debts  of  Gratitude  ought  most  punctually 

to  be  paid,  so,  where  the  Debtor  is  uncapable  of  Payment, 

Acknowledgements  ought  at  least  to  be  paid. 

******  * 

"I  here  present  Your  Lordships  with  a  Description  of 
your  Own  Country;  for  the  most  part  of  her  Natural 
Dress,  and  therefore,  less  vitiated  with  Fraud  and  Luxury. 
A  Country  whose  Inhabitants  may  enjoy  a  Life  of  the 
greatest  Ease  and  Satisfaction  and  pass  away  their  Hours 

in  Solid  Contentment. 

******* 

"Your  Lordships  most  obliged 

"Most  humble 
'  'and  most  devoted  servant. 

John  Lawson.'' 
The  motive  for  his  passage  to  America  he  explains  as 
follows  in  the  opening  lines  of  the  introduction  to  his  his- 
tory: 

*  'In  the  year  1700  when  people  flocked  from  all  parts  of 
the  Christian  world  to  see  the  solemnity  of  the  Grand  Jubi- 
lee at  Rome,  my  intention  at  that  time  being  to  travel,  I 
accidentally  met  with  a  gentlemen,  who  had  been  abroad, 
and  was  very  well  acquainted  with  the  ways  of  living  in 
both  Indies,  of  whom  having  made  enquiry  concerning 
them  he  assured  me  that  Carolina  was  the  best  country  I 
could  go  to;  and  that  there  then  lay  a  ship  in  the  Thames 


night's  stay  and  in  fourteen  days  after  arrived  at  Cb 
Town,  the  metropolis  of  South  Carolina." 

In  his  **A  Journal  of  a  Thousand  Miles  Travel  s 
the  Indians  from  South  to  North  Carolina,''  he  r 
further:  "On  December  28,  1700,  I  began  my  voyag 
North  Carolina)  from  Charles-Town,  being  six  Englis 
in  company,  with  three  Indian  men  and  one  woman 
to  our  Indian  guide." 

With  the  above  information  on  the  character  of  th( 
the  date  and  nature  of  his  trip,  we  may  turn  more  i 
gently  to  that  part  of  his  work  with  which  we  are 
directly  concerned.  In  his  description  of  the  count 
treats  North  and  South  Carolina  separately,  t 
the  portion  called  "The  Natural  History  of  Carolina 
considers  Carolina  as  a  whole.  The  following  is  c 
from  the  introduction  to  his  history  in  support  o 
statement:  "And  since  the  produce  of  South  and 
Carolina  is  the  same,  unless  silk,  which  this  plac 
duces  great  qualities  of  and  very  good.  North  Cb 
having  never  made  any  tryal  thereof,  I  shall  ref 
natural  produce  of  this  country  to  that  part  which 
of  North  Carolina,  whose  productions  are  much  the 
******  * 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  relate  my  journey  thru  the  C( 
from  this  settlement  to  the  other,  and  then  treat 
Natural  History  of  Carolina,  with  other  remarkab 
cumstances  which  I  have  met  with  during  my  eight 
abode  in  that  country. " 

Under  a  subdivision  of  the  natural  history  entitled 
Vegetables  of  Carolina,"  we  find  eighteen  pages  d( 
to  "an  account  of  all  the  spontaneous  fruits  of  Ca 


we  quote:  "We  will  proceed,  in  the  next  place,  to  show 
what  exotick  fruits  we  have  that  thrive  in  CaroHna,  and 
what  others  it  may  reasonably  be  supposed  would  do  there, 
were  they  brought  thither  and  planted." 

To  enter  into  this  list  would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  the 
present  work.  A  statement  of  his  method  is  made  by 
Lawson  himself  in  the  preface  when  he  refers  his  readers 
to  "the  natural  history,  in  which  I  have  been  very  exact, 
and  for  method's  sake  ranged  each  species  under  its  dis- 
tinct and  proper  head."  There  are  however,  very  few 
technical  terms  in  the  whole  work. 

The  treatment  of  animals  is  even  more  elaborate  than 
that  of  plants.  This  part  of  his  work  embraces  forty- 
seven  pages  and  is  subdivided  into  "The  Beasts  of  Caro- 
lina;" "The  Insects  of  Carolina, " — in  which  we  find  no  true 
insects,  but  chiefly  reptiles;  "The  Birds  of  Carolina;" 
and  "The  Fish  in  the  Salt  and  Fresh  Waters  of  Carolina." 

Apart  from  its  historical  significance,  a  work  of  this 
nature  is  worth  little  to  the  scientists  of  today,  yet  we  feel 
a  peculiar  interest  in  it  for  its  age  and  also  as  repre- 
senting a  part  of  the  perspective  in  which  the  country 
was  viewed  in  its  early  days.  His  untimely  death,  no 
doubt,  deprived,  us  of  many  interesting  w^orkS;  for  he  was 
a  writer  of  no  mean  ability,  and  was  certainly  one  to  main- 
tain the  interest  of  his  readers. 

Bibliography 

Lawson,  John— A  New  Voyage  to  Carolina;  containing 
the  Exact  Description  and  Natural  History  of  the  Country. 

London,  1709.     Q. 

History  of  CaroHna.— Lord  Taylor,  1714.     Q. 

History  of  Carolina.— Lord  Warner,  1718. 

History  of  Carolina.— Raleigh,  N.  C,  Strother  and 
Marcom,  1860. 

Allerneuste  Beschriebunz  der  Provints  Carolina  in  West- 
Indien.     Aus  dem  Englischen  Herr  Vischer,  1712. 


MARK  CATESBY 


An  early  naturalist  of  reputation,  who,  while  not  a 
a  resident  of  Carolina,  was  one  of  the  first  to  investi- 
gate the  biological-  resources  of  our  State,  was  Mark 
Catesby,  an  English  scientist,  and  later  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society.  The  birthplace  of  Catesby  is  not  definitely 
known,  nor  the  date  of  his  birth,  but  it  is  generally  record- 
ed that  he  was  born  in  London  about  1679.  If  so,  he 
must  have  removed  from  the  place  when  quite  young 
according  to  a  statement  made  in  the  preface  of 
his  large  and  best  known  work,  "The  Natural  History  of 
Carolina,  Florida  and  the  Bahama  Islands."  For  its  auto- 
biographical value  a  portion  of  this  is  interesting,  and  the 
following  is  quoted  from  it: 

**The  early  inclination  I  had  to  search  after  plants  and 
other  productions  in  nature  being  much  suppressed  by  my 
residing  too  far  from  London,  the  centre  of  all  science,  I 
was  deprived  of  all  opportunities  and  examples  to  excite 
me  to  a  stronger  pursuit  after  these  things  to  which  I  was 
naturally  bent.  Yet  my  curiosity  was  such  that,  not  being 
content  with  contemplating  the  products  of  our  own  coun- 
try, I  soon  imbibed  a  passionate  desire  of  viewing  as  well 
the  animal  and  vegetable  productions  in  their  native  coun- 
tries, which  were  strangers  to  England.  Virginia  was  the 
place,  as  I  had  relations  there,  which  suited  most  with  my 
convenience  to  go,  where  I  arrived  the  23rd  of  April, 
1712.  I  thought  then  so  little  of  prosecuting  a  design  of 
the  nature  of  this  work  that  in  the  seven  years  I  resided 
in  that  country,  (I  am  ashamed  to  own  it,)  I  chiefly  grat- 
ified my  inclination  in  observing  and  admiring  the  various 
productions  of  these  countries,  only  sending  from  thence 
some  dried  specimens  of  plants,  and  some  of  the  most 
specious  of  them  in  tubs  of  earth,  at  the  request  of  some 
curious  friends,  amongst  whom  was  Mr.  Dale,  cf  Brain- 
tree,  in  Essex,  a  skilful  apothecary  and  botanist.     To  him. 


10 

besides  specimens  of  plants,  I  sent  some  few  observations 
on  the  country,  which  he  communicated  to  the  late  William 
Sherard,  LLD.,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  botanists  of  this 
age,  who  favored  me  with  his  friendship  on  my  return  to 
England,  in  the  year  1719,  and  by  his  advice  (though  con- 
scious of  my  own  inability)  I  first  resolved  on  this  under- 
taking, so  agreeable  to  my  inclination.  But  as  expenses 
were  necessary  for  carrying  the  design,  I  here  most  grate- 
fully acknowledge  the  assistance  and  encouragement  re- 
ceived from  several  noble  persons  and  gentlemen,  whose 
names  are  hereunder  mentioned. 

:|c  :tc  «  *  *  *  * 

"With  this  intention  I  set  out  again  from  England  in  the 
year  1722  directly  for  Carolina,  which  country,  though  in- 
habited by  English  above  an  age  past,  and  a  country  in- 
ferior to  none  in  fertility,  and  abounding  in  variety  of  the 
blessings  of  nature,  yet  its  productions  being  very  little 
known,  except  what  barely  related  to  commerce,  such  as 
rice,  pitch  and  tar,  was  thought  the  most  proper  place  to 
search  and  describe  the  productions  of.  Accordingly  I  ar- 
rived in  Carolina  the  23rd  of  May,  1722,  after  a  pleasant, 
though  not  a  short,  passage. 

******  * 

"Upon   my  arrival  at  Charles-Town  I  waited  on   Gen. 

Nicholson,  then  Governor  of  that  Province,   who  received 

me  with  much  kindness,  and  continued  his  favors  during 

my  stay  in  that  country. 

******* 

"As  I  arrived  at  the  beginning  of  the  summer  I  unex- 
pectedly found  this  country  possessed  not  only  with  all  the 
animals  and  vegetables  of  Virginia,  but  abounding  with 
even  a  greater  variety.  The  inhabited  parts  of  Carolina 
extend  west  from  the  sea  about  sixty  miles,  and  almost 
the  whole  length  of  the  coast,  being  a  level,  low  country. 
In  these  parts  I  continued  the  first  year  searching  after, 
collecting  and  describing  the  animals  and  plants.  I  then 
went  to  the  upper  uninhabited  parts  of  the  country,  and 
continued  at  and  about  Fort  Moore,  a  small  fortress  on  the 
banks  of  the  River  Savanna,  which  runs  from  thence  a 


11 

course  of  three  hundred  miles  down  to  the  sea,  and  is 
about  the  same  distance  from  its  source  in  the  mountains." 

It  is  to  be  noted  from  the  above  that  early  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  he  raised  the  means  for  a  voyage  to  the 
New  World,  where  he  arrived  in  1712.  The  greater  part  of 
the  period  of  this  first  trip  was  spent  in  Virginia.  In  1719  he 
returned  to  England  with  a  collection  of  plants,  which  was 
reported  to  have  been  the  most  complete  ever  before  car- 
ried to  England  from  the  Colonies.  This  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  men  of  science,  especially  Sir  Hans  Sloane  and 
Dr.  WilHam  Sherard,  two  of  the  greatest  naturalists  then 
alive.  Catesby  remained  in  England  for  some  time  arrang- 
ing and  naming  his  specimens,  a  considerable  number  of 
which  passed  into  the  museum  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane.  Here 
he  was  led  and  assisted  by  his  scientific  friends  to  revisit 
America,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  South  Carolina  in 
1722.  He  traversed  the  coast  and  made  distant  excursions 
into  the  interior,  collecting  materials  for  his  work. 

Quoting  further  from  the  preface  of  this  same  work: 
'  'After  my  continuence  almost  three  years  in  Carolina  and 
the  adjacent  parts,  (which  the  Spaniards  call  Florida,  par- 
ticularly that  province  lately  honored  with  the  name  of 
Georgia,)  I  went  to  Providence,  one  of  the  Bahama  Is- 
lands. *  *  *  gQ^j^  jj^  Carolina  and  on 
these  Islands,  I  made  successive  collections  of  dried  plants 
and  seeds,  and  at  these  islands  more  particularly,  I  collect- 
ed many  submarine  productions,  as  shells,  corallines,  fru- 
tices  marini,  sponges,  afroites,  etc." 

A  better  general  description  of  his  method  of  treatment 
of  the  plants  cannot  be  given  than  that  he  himself  gives. 
"I  had  principally  a  regard  to  forest  trees  and  shrubs, 
showing  their  several  mechanical  and  other  uses,  as  in 
building,  joynery,  agriculture,  food  and  medicine.  I  have 
likewise  taken  notice  of  those  plants  that  will  bear  our 
English  climate,  which  T  have  experienced  from  what  I 
have  growing  at  Mr.  Bacon's,  successor  of  the  late  Mr. 
Fairchild  at  Haxton.  *  *  *  * 

*'As  to  the  plants,  I  have  given  them  the  English  and 
Indian  names  they  are  known  by  in  these  countries;  and 


12 

for  Latin  names  I  was  beholden  to  the  above-mentioned 
learned  and  accurate  botanist,  Dr.  Sherard." 

In  addition  to  his  treatment  of  the  plants,  his  work  was 
quite  extensively  given  to  animals,  and  principally  to  the 
"feathered  kind,"  of  which  he  s^iys:  *1  believe  very  few 
birds  have  escaped  my  knowledge,  except  some  water  fowl 
and  some  of  those  which  frequent  the  sea." 

In  1726  he  returned  to  England  and  at  once  set  seriously 
to  work  in  preparing  material  for  his  magnificent  and  best 
known  work,  from  which  the  above  extracts  have  been 
taken.  This  was  accompanied  by  a  new  map,  constructed 
by  himself,  of  the  districts  explored.  The  first  volume 
appeared  in  1731  and  the  second  in  1748.  There  are  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  plates  in  this  first  volume,  all  the 
figures  of  the  plants  having  been  drawn  and  etched  by 
Catesby  himself.  In  recognition  of  the  merits  of  this 
first  part  of  his  work,  on  the  26th  of  April  1733,  he  was 
elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  A  German  transla- 
tion, with  an  introduction  by  "M^  Edwards,  due  College 
Royal  des  Medecins  de  Londres,"  was  published  a  Nurem- 
berg in  1756. 

A  third  edition  w^as  required  in  1771,  to  which  a  Lin- 
naean  index  was  appended.  An  original  of  this  edition 
m^y  be  found  in  the  library  of  the  University  of  South 
Carolina.  It  consists  of  two  large  folio  volumes,  over 
fifty  inches  in  length,  and  bound  in  calf.  The  plates  are 
large  and  exquisitely  done.  Side  by  side,  in  parallel 
..:■-''  columns,  we  find  the  text  in  English  and  in  French. 
^^  Catesby  also  produced  (in  1737)  "Hortus  Britanno 
Americus,  or  a  Collection  of  85  Curious  Trees  and  Shrubs, 
the  Production  of  North  America,  adapted  to  the  Climate 
and  Soil  of  Great  Britain."  Many  trees  and  shrubs  were 
first  introduced  by  him,  and  the  publication  of  this 
volume  added  considerably  to  the  introduction  of  Ameri- 
can plants  into  England.  He  also  produced  some  other 
works  of  importance,  which  are  listed  in  the  appended 
bibliography. 

A  West  Indian  genus  of  shrubs  of  the  order  Cincho- 


13 

naceae  was  named  Catesbaea  in  his  honor  by  the  famous 
botanist  Gronovius. 

Catesby  died  at  his  house  in  Old  street,  London,  on  Dec- 
ember 23,  1749. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Catesby,  Mark.  'The  Natural  History  of  Carolina, 
Florida  and  the  Bahama  Islands."    2  Vols,  folio,  1731. 

Same.     Revised  by  M.  Edwards,  with  an  appendix,  1748. 

Same.  German  edition  with  introduction  by  M.  Edwards, 
du  College  Royal  de  Londres,"  Nuremberg,  1756. 

Same.  Other  German  editions  at  Nuremberg  in  1750, 
1755,  1757  and  1770,  and  with  Latin  title  in  1750  and 
1777.  'The  translations  generally  omit  part  of  the 
original." 

Same.  Third  English  edition.  With  Linnaean  index  of 
plants  and  animals  appended,  1771.  2  Vols.,  folio,  220, 
colored  plates. 

"On  the  Migration  of  Birds."  Proceedings  of  the  Royal 
Society,  1747. 

"Hortus  Britanno-Americus,  or  a  Collection  of  85  Curi- 
ous Trees  and  Shrubs,  the  Production  of  North  America, 
Adapted  to  the  Climate  and  Soil  of  Great  Britain."  Folio, 
seventeen  engravings.     (1737) 

"Piscium,  Serpentum,  Insectorum,  aliorumque  nonnul- 
lorum  Animalium,  nee  non  Plantarum  quarundam  Im- 
agines."   Folio,  Nuremberg,  1777. 


14 


ALEXANDER  GARDEN 


One  of  the  most  famous  physicians  of  Colonial  times, 
and  according  to  Ramsay  in  his  history  of  South  Carolina, 
"a  botanist  of  no  low  degree"  was  Dr.  Alexander  Garden. 
He  was  born  in  Scotland  about  the  year  1728,  and  was  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Garden,  of  the  Parish  of  Birse, 
in  the  shire  of  Aberdeen,  a  clergyman  of  high  respecta- 
bility w^ho  during  the  rebellion  of  1745  was  distinguished 
by  his  exertions  in  favor  of  the  family  of  Hanover,  and 
still  more  so  by  his  humane  interposition  in  behalf  of  the 
followers  of  the  house  of  Stuart  after  their  defeat  at  Cul- 
loden. 

Dr.  Garden  received  his  philosophical  and  classical  edu- 
cation in  the  University  of  Aberdeen  at  the  Mareschal 
College  there.  His  early  medical  training  he  received  un- 
der the  celebrated  Dr.  John  Gregory,  and  studied  also  for 
a  year  in  Edinburgh. 

He  arrived  in  South  Carolina  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Prince  William's  Parish  in  connection  with  Dr.  Rose. 
Here  his  interest  for  botanical  studies  began  to  assert  it- 
self more  strongly.  But  having  lost  his  health,  he  was 
obliged  to  take  a  voyage  to  the  North  for  his  recovery.  In 
1754  he  went  to  New  York,  where  a  professorship  in  the 
college  recently  formed  in  that  city  was  offered  him. 

With  improved  health  he  returned  to  Charleston  and 
continued  the  practice  of  medicine  there  for  about  thirty 
years,  acquiring  a  considerable  fortune  in  this  way.  He 
seems  also  to  have  attained  at  the  same  time  a  high  dis- 
tinction in  the  literary  circles  of  this  city.  Ramsay  says: 
"He  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics 
and  was  a  considerable  proficient  in  the  knowledge  of  belles- 
lettres,  in  mathematics,  philosophy,  history  and  miscellan- 
eous literature,  but  his  attention,  when  the  duties  of  his 
profession  permitted  any  relaxation,  was  chiefly  directed  to 


15 

the  study  of  natural  history  and  particularly  that  of 
botany." 

His  many  like-minded  friends  in  Europe  and  the  mother 
country  profited  as  the  result  of  his  investigations;  for  he 
made  sundry  communications  to  them  on  the  observations 
which  he  from  time  to  time  made.  Linnaeus,  the  greatest 
botanist  of  his  age,  was  one  of  these  friends,  and  he  and 
Garden  corresponded  with  each  other  in  Latin.  To  do 
honor  to  his  friend  Garden,  Linnaeus  gave  the  name  of 
Gardenia  toja  genus  of  most  beautiful  flowering  shrubs. 

To  extend  his  knowledge  in  natural  history.  Dr.  Garden 
accompanied  Governor  James  Glen  in  1752,  when  he  pen- 
etrated into  the  Indian  country  and  made  the  treaty  with 
the  Cherokees.  In  1764  he  gave  to  the  public  an  account 
of  the  virtues  of  pink  root  (Spigelia  Marilandica)  and  at 
the  same  time  a  botanical  description  of  the  plant.  About 
the  year  1772  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  after  his  return  to  Europe  in  1783  he  was  appointed 
one  of  its  council  and  afterwards  one  of  its  vice  presidents. 
His  death  occurred  in  the  year  1791. 

Bibliography 

Alexander  Garden— 'The  Halesia,  first  described  by  Dr. 
Garden,  as  appears  by  the  letter  of  J.  Ellis,  Esq.,  F.  R.  S., 
read  before  the  Royal  Society,  November  20,  1760." 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society. 

"An  Account  of  the  Male  and  Female  Cochineal  Insects 
in  a  letter  to  John  Ellis,  Esq.,  read  before  the  Royal  So- 
ciety, December  23,  1762."    Transactions  Royal  Society. 

"An  Account  of  an  Amphibious  Bipes  (the  Mud  Iguana 
or  Syren  of  South  Carolina, )  communicated  in  a  letter  to 
John  Ellis,  Esc[.,  read  before  the  Reyal  Society."  Trans- 
actions Royal  Society. 

"An  Account  of  Two  New  Tortoises,  in  a  letter  to 
Thomas  Pennant,  Esq.,  and  read  before  the  Royal  Society. 
May  2,  1771."     Transactions  Royal  Society. 

'  *  An  Account  of  the  Gymnatus  Electricus,  in  a  letter  to 


16 

John  Ellis  Esq.,  read  before  the  Royal  Society,  February 
24,  1778."     Transactions  Royal  Society. 

'** An  Account  of  the  Pink  Root  (Spigelia  Marilandica) 
with  its  Uses  as  a  Vermifuge.  1764." 

"Pleasure  of  Piety  and  Other  Poems." 

"Description  of  Table  Rock." 

''Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary  War  in  America," 
Charleston,  1822. 


17 


WILLIAM  BARTRAM 


William  Bartram,  botanist,  was  born  in  Kingsessing, 
Pennsylvania,  February  9,  1739,  and  died  there  July  22, 
1823.  He  engaged  in  business  in  Philadelphia,  and  after- 
ward in  North  Carolina.  In  1765  he  accompanied  his 
father  to  Florida,  and  remained  on  the  St  John's  River 
for  several  years  cultivating  indigo.  In  1771  he  returned 
to  his  father's  home  and  devoted  his  attention  to  botany, 
a  love  for  which  he  had  inherited.  He  was  very  fortunate 
in  having  at  his  command  the  services  of  so  eminent  a 
botanist  as  his  father,  John  Bartram,  and  he  makes  the 
following  acknowledgment  of  the  fact  in  the  introduction 
to  one  of  his  most  important  works,  "from  the  advantages 
the  journalist  enjoyed  under  his  father,  John  Bartram, 
botanist  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  it  is  hoped  that  his  labors  will  present  new 
as  well  as  useful  information  to  the  botanist  and  the  zool- 
ogist." 

From  1773  till  1778  he  traveled  through  the  Carolinas, 
Georgia  and  Florida  to  examine  their  natural  products  and 
he  made  many  drawings  of  the  specimens  he  collected. 
An  account  of  his  experiences  while  on  this  trip  was  pub- 
Hshed  under  the  title,  "Travels  Through  North  and  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  East  and  West  Florida,  the  Chero- 
kee Country,  the  Extensive  Territories  of  the  Muscogulges 
or  Creek  Confederacy,  and  the  Country  of  the  Choctaws. 
Containing  an  Account  of  the  Soil  and  Natural  Productions, 
of  those  Regions,  together  with  Observations  on  the  Man- 
ners of  the  Indians."  A  copy  of  the  second  edition  of  this 
work,  published  in  London,  1794,  is  to  be  found  in  the  li- 
brary of  the  University  of  South  Carolina.  The  first  edi- 
tion was  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1791.  The  opening 
lines  of  the  first  chapter  give  us  in  his  own  words  the 
motives  which  prompted  him  to  take  this  trip:  "At  the 
request  of  Fothergill,  of  London,  to  search  the  Floridas 


18 

and  the  western  parts  of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  for  the 
discovery  of  rare  and  useful  productions  of  nature,  chiefly 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom;  in  April,  1773,  I  embarked  for 
Charleston,  S.  C." 

His  treatment  of  the  plants  is  not  systematic;  but  he 
mentions  numbers  of  them  in  his  description  of  the  coun- 
try, giving  them  their  correct  scientific  names.  Nor  does 
his  description  apply  to  all  parts  of  the  State;  for  he  seems 
to  have  visited  only  the  northwestern  part. 

In  1782  he  was  appointed  professor  of  botany  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  which  position  he  declined  on 
account  of  impaired  vision.  In  1786  he  became  a  member 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  and  in  addition  to 
his  botanical  labors  prepared  and  published  the  most  com- 
plete list  of  American  birds  previous  to  that  of  Alexander 
Wilson,  whom  he  greatly  assisted  at  the  outset  of  his  ca- 
reer. He  possessed  considerable  talent  for  drawing  and 
made  the  illustrations  in  "Barton's  Elements  of  Botany,'' 
thus  making  known  for  the  first  time  by  illustration  many 
of  the  most  curious  and  beautiful  plants  of  North  Ameri- 
ca. Besides  this,  he  published  several  works,  for  a  list  of 
which  see  the  appended  bibliography. 

Bibliography 

Bartram,  William— "Travels  through  North  and  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  East  and  West  Florida,  the  Cherokee 
Country,  the  Extensive  Territories  of  the  Muscogulges  or 
Creek  Confederacy,  and  the  Country  of  the  Choctaws.  Con- 
taining an  account  of  the  soil  and  natural  productions  of 
those  regions,  together  with  observations  on  the  manners 
of  the  Indians."  Philadelphia:  James  and  Johnson,  1791. 
520  pp. 

English  editions,  London,  1792,  1794;  Dublin,  1793. 

A  German  edition,  William  Bartram's  Reisen  durch 
Nord-und-Sud-Karolina  *  *  Aus  dem  Englischen. 
Mit  erlauternden  anmerkungen  von  E.  A.  W.  Zimmer- 
man, Hofrath  und  Professor  in  Braunschwerg,  Berlin, 
1793. 


19 

**A  French  edition:  Voyage  dans  les  parties  dus  de 
TAmerique  septrionale;  savoir;  les  Carolines  Septrionale  et 
Meridionale  *  *  trad,  de  Tangl.  Par.  P.  V. 
Benorst,  Paris.  An.  VII  (1799)  2  vols.  120.  pp  457. 
Dutch  edition,  Haarlem.  1794-1797,  in  three  parts, 
''Some  accounts  of  the  late  John  Bartram:"  Medical 
and  Physical  Journ.     Philadelphia,  1804. 


20 


THOMAS  WALTER 


Thomas  Walter,  botanist,  was  born  in  Hampshire,  Eng- 
land, about  1740,  and  died  near  Charleston,  S.  C,  about 
1788.  •  He  received  a  liberal  education  in  England,  but 
emigrating  to  this  country,  settled  on  a  plantation  in  St. 
Stephen's  Parish,  S.  C.  There  he  followed  the  business 
of  a  planter  and  devoted  his  leisure  to  botany.  In  his  gar- 
den he  cultivated  the  plants  that  he  subsequently  describ- 
ed, and  several  species  have  since  been  named  in  honor  of 
him. 

Relatively  little  in  a  connected  way  seems  to  be  known 
of  Walter,  but  here  and  there  we  find  an  occasional  ref- 
ference.  Ezra  Brainerd,  in  an  article  in  Volume  3,  Bulle- 
tin of  Charleston  Museum,  speaks  of  him  as  "an  enthusi- 
astic student  of  nature,  who  was  the  first  to  publish  in  his 
Flora  Caroliniana  a  fairly  complete  account  of  the  flower- 
ing plants  of  a  definite  region  in  North  America." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Walter  was  during  the 
time  in  which  he  lived  of  equal  rank  it  not  superior  to  any 
of  the  botanists  resident  in  the  colonies.  He  easily  ranks 
foremost  among  all  the  botanists  of  our  State  previous  to 
his  own  day.  His  principal  publication  is  "Flora  Carolin- 
iana Secundum  Systema  Vegetabilium  perillustris  Linnaei 
digesta."     This  was  published  in  London  in  1788. 

Copies  of  this  work  are  now  very  rare;  but  one  may  be 
found  in  each  of  the  libraries  of  the  University  of  South 
Carolina  and  the  Charleston  Museum. 

The  following  extract  taken  from  the  proceedings  of  the 
Elliot  Society,  Volume  1,  page  53,  describes  a  visit  of 
Henry  W.  Ravenel  over  fifty  years  ago  to  the  place  of 
Walter's  former  residence.  It  is  of  interest  in  that  it  gives 
us  the  impressions  of  this  prominent  botanist  of  a  more 
recent  time. 

"On  a  late  visit  which  I  made  to  "Walter's  former  resi- 
dence on  the  banks  of  the  Santee,  in  St.  John's  Parish,  I 
found   two  clusters  of  this  tree,    (tallov^  tree  of  China, 


21 

Still^gia  eebifera,)  bearing  the  marks  of  age.  They, 
with  one  or  two  other  things,  were  the  only  memorials 
left  of  his  botanical  garden.  The  present  trees,  one  of 
which  has  attained  a  height  of  about  thirty  feet,  are 
off-shoots  from  a  half  decayed  stump  of  at  least  one 
foot  in  diameter.  That  he  was  familiar  with  this  plant 
is  evident  from  an  allusion  which  he  makes  to  it  in  the 
preface  to  his  Flora  Caroliniana.  For  seventy  years 
they  have  survived  the  want  of  culture,  and  resisted 
the  inroads  of  surrounding  native  vegetation  and  may, 
therefore,  lay  claim  to  full  and  complete  acclimation. 

'*In  the  midst  of  this  grove  there  stands  a  solitary 
grave  stone  marking  the  last  resting  place  of  this  early 
pioneer  of  American  science.  It  is  a  plain  marble  slab, 
and  bears  this  simple  record  of  filial  love : 

IN  MEMORY 
OF 
^  THOMAS  WALTER. 

A  native  of  Hampshire  in  England 

and  many  years  a  resident  of  this 

State.    He  died  in  the  beginning  of 

the  year  1788.     Aetatis  cir  48  ann. 

To  a  mind  liberally  endowed  by 

nature  and  refined  by  a  liberal 

education  he  added  a  taste  to 

the  study  of  Natural  History 

and  in  the  department  of 

Botany  science  is  much 

indebted  to  his  labours. 

At  his  desire  he  was  buried  on 

this  spot  once  the  garden  in 

which  were  cultivated  most 

of  the  plants  of  his 

Flora  Caroliniana, 

From  motives  of  filial  affection 

his  only  surviving  Children 

ANN  and  MARY 
have  placed  this  memorial." 


22 

In  Samuel  Dubose's  "The  Hugenots  of  South  Caro- 
lina," under  a  section  entitled  the  ''Reminiscences  of  St. 
Stephen^s  Parish,  Craven  County  and  Notices  of  Her 
Old  Homesteads,"  we  find  the  following:  ''About 
twenty  years  before  the  Revolutionary  war  the  belt  of 
land  bordering  on  the  Santee  River,  through  the  whole 
extent  of  the  parish  of  St.  Stephen's  was  the  garden 

spot  of  South  Carolina." 

♦         ♦*»**♦*♦** 

The  plantation  known  as  "Mexico,"  at  the  western 
extremity  of  the  parish,  was  the  residence  of  the  late 
Major  Samuel  Porcher. 

Northwest  of  Mexico  and  directly  on  the  river  bank 
was  the  residence  of  Thomas  Walter,  Esq.,  the  botanist, 
an  Englishman  by  birth.  He  embellished  his  seat  with 
a  botanical  garden,  which  long  commanded  the  admir- 
ation of  his  neighbors.  His  first  wife  was  Sarah  Peyre, 
by  whom  he  had  two  daughters;  his  second  wife  was 
Dolly  Cooper,  whose  daughter,  Emily,  their  only  child, 
married  Judge  Charlton,  of  Savannah." 

Quoting  further  from  the  same  work,  under  a  portion 
entitled  "Historical  and  Social  Sketch  of  Craven 
County,  South  Carolina,"  by  Frederick  A.  Porcher, 
Esq.,  and  published  in  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review 
for  April,  1852 :  "One  citizen  of  this  parish  has  earned 
for  himself  a  reputation  in  the  world  of  letters,  and  it 
is  strange  that  Ramsay,  who  appears  to  have  sought 
eagerly  after  Carolinian  celebrities,  should  have  en- 
tirely ignored  his  existence.  Thomas  Walter,  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman,  whose  devotion  to  the  cause  of  science 
led  him  to  the  wilds  of  Carolina,  was  attracted  by  the 
charms  of  Miss  Peyre,  of  St.  Stephen's,  married  her  and 
settled  there.  He  devoted  himself  particularly  to  the 
pursuit  of  botany  and  the  curious  are  still  occasionally 
rewarded  by  a  visit  to  his  garden,  the  ruins  of  which 
may  still  be  seen  near  the  banks  of  the  Santee  Canal. 
He  is  the  ancestor  of  one  branch  of  the  Porcher  family, 
and  of  the  Charlton  family  of  Georgia." 


23 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Walter,  Thomas — 'Tlora  Caroliniana,  Secundum 
Systema  Vegetabilium,  perillustris  Linnaei  digesta." 
London.     J.  Fraser,  1788. 


24 


JOHN  DRAYTON. 


John  Drayton  is  little  known  as  a  botanist;  he  figures 
chiefly  for  his  political  activities.  Yet  he  deserves 
mention  among  the  botanists  of  South  Carolina  for  the 
work  which  he  did  towards  cherishing  and  propagating 
a  then  comparatively  new  science. 

John  Dra>i:on,  known  in  history  as  Governor  Dray- 
ton, and  at  one  time  a  Judge  of  the  United  States  Dis- 
trict Court  for  South  Carolina,  was  bom  in  1766,  prob- 
ably at  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  was  the  son  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice William  Henry  Drayton,  who  died  during  a  visit 
to  Philadelphia,  September  3,  1778.  John  Drayton 
was  placed  by  his  father  under  the  instruction  of  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Witherspoon,  at  Princeton,  N.  J.  H« 
completed  his  legal  education  in  London,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  and  opened  a  law  ofRce  in  Charleston,  S.  C. 
In  early  life  he  was  married  to  Miss  Hester  Rose, 
daughter  of  Philip  Tideman.  In  1798  he  was  elected 
Lieutenant  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  on  the 
death  of  Governor  Edward  Rutledge  in  January,  1800, 
Mr.  Drayton  succeeded  to  the  Governorship.  At  the 
end  of  his  term  in  the  following  December,  he  was 
elected  Governor  for  a  term  of  two  years.  His  admin- 
istration was  a  successful  one,  and  he  was  said  to  be  the 
first  Governor  of  South  Carolina  who  undertook  to 
make  a  thorough  personal  review  of  the  military 
strength  of  the  State.  While  he  held  the  executive  of- 
fice in  1802,  Governor  Drayton  published  a  book  en- 
titled ''A  View  of  South  Carolina,"  a  valuable  work  con- 
taining a  large  amount  of  useful  statistical  information. 
Of  this  some  thirty-odd  pages  are  devoted  to  the  plants 
and  animals  of  the  State,  principally  to  the  plants.  The 
following  is  quoted  from  that  work: 

''Although  some  attempts  have  been  made  to  ascer- 
tain the  vegetable  productions  of  South  Carolina;  yet 


T  :'\^^. 


JOHN  DRAYTON 


25 

much  remains  still  unexplored.  To  Catesby  we  are  in- 
debted for  some  drawings,  and  but  imperfect  descrip- 
tions of  plants  and  flowers,  Bartram  in  his  travels 
through  the  State  in  1776  has  added  some  particulars 
to  botanical  information.  Walter  in  his  ''Flora  Caro- 
liniana"  has  brought  forward  a  still  greater  catalogue ; 
not,  however,  without  being  suspected  of  stating  differ- 
ent species  where  varieties  only  existed.  And  Michaux, 
in  a  work  which  he  has  lately  published  at  Paris,  has 
added  valuable  information  respecting  the  history  of 
American  oaks.  From  these  sources,  and  some  others 
which  present  themselves,  the  following  indigenous 
plants  may  be  noted  as  flourishing  within  the  boun- 
daries of  this  State." 

He  devotes  twenty-four  pages  of  the  "A  View  of 
South  Carolina"  to  a  ''Botanical  Catalogue  of  the  most 
remarkable  plants,  shrubs  and  trees,  indigenous  to  the 
State  of  South  Carolina."  The  succeeding  three  pages 
are  given  to  the  "Exotic  plants."  Proportionately  lit- 
tle space  applies  to  the  fauna;  this  is  comprised  in  a 
list  of  animals  only  four  pages  in  length. 

But  the  work  which  makes  Drayton  worthy  of  men- 
tion among  the  botanists  of  our  State  is  "The  Carolin- 
ian Florist,"  an  unpublished  work  dated  1807,  the 
manuscript  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  library  of  the 
University  of  South  Carolina.  This  is  in  the  form  of  a 
book  bound  in  Russia  leather  and  containing  307  pages. 
It  follows  very  closely  in  English  the  "Flora  Carolin- 
iana"  of  Thomas  Walter,  which  was  written  in  Latin. 
A  clearer  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  work  can  be 
obtained  from  a  reprint  of  the  exact  title  and  the  letter 
which  it  contains,  addressed  to  the  trustees  of  South 
Carolina  College. 

"  'The  Carolinian  Florist,'  in  which  upwards  of  one 
thousand  plants  are  mentioned,  and  the  places  of 
growth  and  times  of  flowering  of  many  of  them  are 
ascertained. 

VBy  John  Drayton,  author  of  'Letters  Written  During 
a  Tour  Through  the  Northern  and  Eastern   States    of 


26 

America:"  Of  "A  View  of  South  Carolina  as  Respects 
Her  Natural  and  Civil  Concerns,"  and  Member  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Sciences  of  Gottingen  in  Hanover. 

"To  the  Honorable,  the  Trustees  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina College — Gentlemen:  I  beg  leave  to  present  the 
Collegiate  Institution  over  which  you  preside  this  manu- 
script work. 

"As  the  botanical  publications  heretofore  respecting 
this  State  are  in  Latin,  for  my  better  information,  I  have 
thus  rendered  them  into  English,  and  hope  a  work  of 
this  kind  m.ay  not  be  inacceptable,  although  there  be 
little  of  originality  in  its  composition.  There  are  no 
doubt  many  errors  in  the  following  pages  which  have 
escaped  my  correction,  partly  because  I  have  not  noticed 
them,  and  partly  owing  to  the  imperfect  knowledge 
which  I  have  of  the  science  of  botany.  But  still  I  trust 
much  correct  information  will  be  found  in  their  perusal, 
and  much  inducement  for  further  and  better  inquiries. 

"It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  a  science  so  useful  in  its 
nature,  so  pleasing  in  the  investigations  and  so  con- 
nected with  the  purest  principles  of  morality  and  re- 
ligion, should  have  thus  little  attracted  the  attention 
of  our  citizens.  Perhaps  this  may  be  owing  to  its  being 
little  noticed  as  yet  at  our  public  seminaries;  and  to 
an  idea  which  has  prevailed  of  its  being  an  arduous 
pursuit ;  more  so  from  the  want  of  professors  and  teach- 
ers in  a  study  which  requires  many  explanations  and 
particular  examinations  than  from  real  difficulties 
springing  from  the  science  itself.  However,  with  the 
civilization  of  our  country,  which  education  has  af- 
forded, the  veil  at  length  is  so  far  withdrawn  as  to 
afford  us  the  reasonable  hope  that  shortly  the  general 
information  will  be  better  on  this  subject.  For  already 
botany  is  studied  in  some  of  our  colleges,  and  Barton 
has  spread  forth  its  beauties  in  language  both  pleasing 
and  attractive.  Come  then  let  us  sometimes  unbend 
the  mind  from  more  serious  pursuits  and  enjoy  this 
calm,  this  delightful  recreation.  On  the  harmonies,  of 
nature  its  system  is  erected,  its  pursuits  are  mild,  its 


27 

discoveries  pleasing,  all  of  them  tending  to  compose 
and  soften  the  troubles  of  humanity,  to  make  friend- 
ships, to  chase  away  enmities.  To  lead  by  calm  reflec- 
tion to  that  happy  temper  of  mind  which  makes  adver- 
sity not  fearful,  and  which,  when  fortune  favors,  adds 
much  to  the  pleasures  w*e  enjoy. 

"From  Walter  principally  the  following  pages  are 
compiled;  from  Barton  also,  and  Michaux,  much  orig- 
inal matter  is  introduced.  In  some  places  I  have  in- 
serted the  names  of  plants  on  the  authority  of  Michaux 
instead  of  Walter,  as  believing  the  information  of  the 
former  and  his  connection  with  learned  botanists  to  be 
greater  than  the  latter.  But  in  general  have  followed 
Walter. 

"In  addition  to  what  they  have  published  I  have  noted 
the  times  of  efflorescence  of  many  plants,  and  in  what 
parts  of  the  State  they  are  to  be  found;  and  the  better 
to  assist  such  researches  a  map  of  this  State  has  been 
affixed ;  dividing  its  territory  into  lower,  middle  and 
upper  country,  as  nature  in  her  productions  seems 
peculiarly  to  require  this  division.  In  many  cases  also 
I  have  referred  to  books,  where  correct  engravings  of 
the  plants  may  be  seen,  which  gives  the  reader  an  op- 
portunity of  referring  to  representations  of  plants 
otherwise  not  being  within  his  control.  Agreeably  to 
Dr.  Barton's  method,  a  character  is  givento  each  class, 
and  mention  made  of  plants  as  medicinal  or  ornamen- 
tal. The  uses  of  wood  and  plants  are  also  noticed,  as 
relating  to  husbandry,  mechanics,  agriculture,  ship- 
building or  house  building.  These  and  other  useful  in- 
formations, I  trust,  will  be  found  in  the  following  pages. 
They  have  been  presented  to  your  respectable  board, 
cherished  by  no  vain  hopes,  but  as  springing  from  a 
desire  of  promoting  the  public  good.  Which,  if  this 
humble  attempt  shall  be  deemed  by  you,  in  the  smallest 
degree,  to  have  been  done,  the  object  of  my  efforts  has 
been  happily  attained. 

"The  Author. 

"Charleston,  October  29,  1807." 


28 

During  his  first  term  as  Governor,  Drayton  recom- 
mended the  establishment  .of  a  college  at  Columbia,  and 
on  December  18,  1801,  an  Act  was  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature establishing  'The  South  Carolina  College."  On 
account  of  his  services  in  its  establishment,  the  institu- 
tion conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  LL.D. 

When  his  term  as  Governor  expired,  he  was  chosen 
by  the  citizens  of  Charleston  one  of  their  Senators  in  the 
Legislature,  which  office  he  held  until  December  10, 
1808,  when  he  was  again  made  Governor  for  the  ensu- 
ing two  years.  When  his  second  term  closed  he  de- 
clined a  re-election  to  the  Legislature.  On  May  7,  1821, 
he  was  appointed  and  commissioned  by  President  Madi- 
son, Judge  of  the  District  of  South  Carolina,  and  con- 
tinued in  the  performance  of  this  office  with  firmness, 
patriotism  and  industry  until  his  death  at  Charleston, 
S.  C,  November  27,  1822. 

Bibliography. 

— Drayton,  John. — ''Letters  Written  During  a  Tour 
Through  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States."  1784. 

— "A  View  of  South  Carolina."  (500  copies.)  1802. 

—"The  Carolinian  Florist."  (MSS  in  U.  of  S.  C. 
Library.)  1807. 

— "Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution."  2  vols. 
1821. 


29 


JOHN  L.  E.  W.  SHECUT. 


Prominent  among  the  early  botanical  workers  of  our 
State  we  find  the  name  of  John  L.  E.  W.  Shecut.  Dr. 
Shecut  was  the  son  of  Abraham  and  Marie  Barbary 
Shecut,  French  Huguenots,  driven  to  Switzerland  dur- 
ing the  early  years  of  the  persecution,  and  from  thence 
taking  passage  to  America,  settling  in  Beaufort,  S.  C. 
Dr.  Shecut  was  born  in  Beaufort,  S.  C,  December  4, 
1770,  and  died  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  June,  1836.  His  par- 
ents removed  to  Charleston  at  some  time  prior  to  1779. 

His  early  medical  training  was  received  under  a 
friend  of  the  family.  Dr.  David  Ramsay,  famous  as  a 
historian  and  physician,  and  later  he  went  to  Philadel- 
phia where  he  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  in  1791, 
at  21  years  of  age.  He  returned  to  Charleston  and  im- 
mediately began  the  practice  of  medicine,  which  'he 
continued  till  his  death. 

Dr.  Shecut  was  twice  married,  first  to  Miss  Sarah 
Cannon,  of  Edisto  Island,  on  January  26,  1792 ;  the  sec- 
ond time,  February  7,  1805,  to  Miss  Susanna  Ballard, 
of  Georgetown,  S.  C.  As  a  result  of  these  unions  nine 
children  were  born ;  four  by  the  first  marriage  and  five 
by  the  second. 

In  1813  Dr.  Shecut  founded  'The  Antiquarian  So- 
ciety of  South  Carolina,"  which  afterward  became 
'The  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  South  Car- 
olina." 

He  was  the  founder,  and  for  a  length  of  time  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Homespun  Company,"  estab- 
lished in  1820,  which  operated,  it  is  believed,  the  first 
cotton  mill  in  the  State.  This  was  built  in  the  vicinity 
of  Charleston,  S.  C. 

In  his  medical  practice  he  was  one  of  the  earliest 
physicians  in  this  country  to  use  electricity  in  the  treat- 
ment of  disease,  and  in  1806  he  exhibited  to  the  public 


30 

his  electrical  machine,  which  he  invented  and  used  in 
his  profession. 

As  an  author,  considerable  work  stands  to  his  credit. 
Among  his  principal  works  was  his  "Flora  Carolinien- 
sis,"  published  in  1806,  in  two  volumes.  This  was  the 
most  extensive  work  on  the  botany  of  the  State  pub- 
lished up  to  that  time.  Shecut  seems  to  have  been  a 
very  versatile  man  from  the  number  of  interests  that 
engaged  his  attention.  Botany  was  a  subject  to  which 
he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  time.  As  evidencing  his  in- 
terest in  this  subject  the  passages  following  are  quoted 
from  his  ''Medical  and  Philosophical  Essays." 

After  describing  the  establishment  of  the  Medical  So- 
ciety in  1789,  he  says:  ''The  zeal  for  the  promotion  of 
science  was  soon  evidenced  by  the  formation  of  three 
auxiliary  institutions:  The  Humane  Society,  the  Char- 
leston Dispensary  for  the  Poor,  and  the  Botanic  Gar- 
den. 
************ 

"The  Botanic  Society,  which  also  emanated  from  the 
Medical  Society,  was  founded  in  1805  and  was  incor- 
porated in  the  same  year." 

And  quoting  from  Ramsay's  History  of  South  Caro- 
lina, he  further  adds:  "The  Medical  Society  gave  to  it 
three  hundred  dollars,  fifty  dollars  per  annum,  and  a 
large  lot  of  land,  which  had  been  generously  given  to 
them  by  Mrs.  Savage,  now  Mrs.  Turpin,  to  be  used  as  a 
Botanic  Garden.  The  inhabitants  were  invited  to  join 
the  Association,  and  on  their  annual  payment  of  any 
sum  between  four  to  ten  dollars  at  their  option,  they 
were  entitled  to  privileges  in  proportion  to  their  respec- 
tive subscriptions,  and  became  members  of  the  Botanic 
Society." 

"Notwithstanding  all  the  advantages  and  delights 
that  this  most  pleasing  and  instructive  science  offered 
to  all  the  citizens  *  ♦  *  Notwithstanding  an  annual 
sum  of  $1,176  thus  obtained  from  voluntary  subscribers 
*  *  *  and  although  the  garden  was  opened  the 
same  year  under  the  most  favorable  auspices  and  en- 


31 

riched  with  a  considerable  number  of  valuable  indi- 
genous and  exotic  plants,  it  flourished  for  a  few  years 
beyond  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  its  friends,  it 
has  fallen. 

"A  second  attempt  was  made  *     *     *     but  it  was  in 
vain. 
************ 

'In  the  year  1806,  conceiving  the  era  favorable  to 
botany,  the  author  compiled  and  published  by  subscrip- 
tion a  series  of  numbers  on  botany  entitled  'Flora  Caro- 
liniensis'  in  honor  of  his  native  State.  In  this  work  he 
claimed  no  other  merit  than  the  design  of  promoting  a 
taste  for  the  study  of  that  science,  by  simplifying  as 
much  as  possible  the  Linnaean  system.  This  work  was 
honored  with  a  numerous  patronage  and  was  continued 
to  the  completion  of  a  volume  of  seven  numbers;  at 
which  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  undertak- 
ing, with  the  loss  of  twenty  months  close  devotion  to 
its  progress  and  also  of  $1,800  and  upwards. 

"It  is  believed  that  no  Carolinian  has  studied  the 
science  of  botany  otherwise  than  for  horticultural  pur- 
poses prior  to  the  Revolution :  but  since  that  event  this 
delightful  science  has  excited  attention,  which,  though 
daily  increasing,  is  far  short  of  what  it  deserves. 

''At  this  period,  botany  is  more  extensively  cultivated 
as  a  science ;  it  has  been  found  all-important  to  the 
student  of  medicine  and  by  no  means  beneath  the  dig- 
nity of  students  in  all  the  branches  of  science.  Indeed 
the  fair  sex,  conspicuous  for  their  attention  to  the  fine 
arts  and  accomplishments,  have  lately  been  aroused  to 
uncommon  exertions  towards  its  acquirement.  In  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1817-18,  during  the  lectures  of 
Mr.  Whitlow,  in  this  city,  it  is  said  that  upwards  of  fifty 
young  ladies  attended  in  classes,  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 
quiring a  regular  knowledge  of  this  delightful  science, 
many  of  whom  were  making  the  most  delightful  prog- 
ress therein."  ^ 


32 
Bibliography. 

Shecut,  J.  L.  E.  W.  "Flora  Caroliniensis,"  1806. 
(Dedicated  to  Peter  Frenau,Esq.") 

''Essays  on  the  Prevailing  Fever,"  1817.  (Dedi- 
cated to  Dr.  David  Ramsay.) 

''Medical  and  Philosophical  Essays."  1819.  Dedi- 
cated to  the  Hon.  John  Drayton,  LL.  D.) 

— "The  Elements  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  a  Nev^ 
Theory  of  the  Earth."  (Dedicated  to  Samuel  L. 
Mitchell,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Professor  of  Natural  History 
and  Botany  in  the  University  of  the  City  of  Nev^  York.) 

— "Medical  Philosophical,  Topographical  and  His- 
torical Sketches  of  the  City  of  Charleston." 

— "Contagion  and  Infection."  (Dedicated  to  Dr.  J. 
B.  Witridge.) 

— "Principles  and  Properties  of  the  Electric  Fluid." 
1817.     (Dedicated  to  Dr.  B.  B.  Greenland.) 

— "Medical  History  of  South  Carolina." 

— "Strictures  on  Adam  Clark's  Commentary." 

— "The  Eagle  of  the  Mohawk."      (A  novel.) 

— "The  Scout  or  the  Fast  of  St.  Nicholas.  A  Novel 
of  the  XVH  Century."    . 


33 


JAMES  MACBRIDE. 


James  Macbride,  physician  and  botanist,  was  bom 
in  Williamsburg  County,  S.  C,  in  1784;  died  in  Char- 
leston, S.  C,  in  1817.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1805,  and  then  studied  medicine.  Settling  in  Pineville, 
S.  C,  he  practiced  his  profession  for  many  years,  but 
later  removed  to  Charleston  where  he  died  of  the  yel- 
low fever.  Dr.  Macbride  was  an  ardent  devotee  of 
botany  and  contributed  papers  on  that  science  to  the 
•''Transactions  of  the  Linnaean  Society"  and  elsewhere. 
His  name  was  given  by  Dr.  Stephen  Elliott  to  the  Mac- 
hridea  pulchra,  a  genus  found  in  St.  John's,  Berkeley, 
S.  C,  of  which  but  two  species  are  known  to  exist.  This 
same  authority  dedicated  the  second  volume  of  his 
''Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
(Charleston,  1824)  to  Dr.  Macbride. 

In  his  "Medical  and  Philosophical  Essays"  Shecut 
has  the  following  to  say  with  regard  to  him :  "Dr.  Mac- 
bride, late  of  St.  Stephen's,  while  living,  pursued  with 
unceasing  ardor  the  study  of  botany,  particularly  that 
branch  of  it  more  immediately  connected  with  medi- 
cine. 

"Society  will  long  deplore  the  loss  of  this  amiable 
physician  and  scientific  botanist,  who,  in  the  midst  of 
his  useful  career,  and  in  which  he  was  deservedly  ac- 
quiring for  himself  an  accession  of  self-earned  honors 
and  applause,  fell  a  victim  to  his  professional  zeal, 
during  the  prevalence  of  the  fever  of  1817." 

Stephen  Elliott  in  the  preface  to  Volume  H,  "Sketch 
of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,"  speaks 
of  him  as  follows : 

"But  principally  to  the  late  Dr.  James  Macbride  a 
tribute  is  due  not  only  for  the  services  which  he  him- 
self actually  rendered,  but  for  the  contributions  which 


34 

he  induced  others  to  offer.  Devotedly  attached  to 
science,  he  had  the  talent  to  make  it  popular  wherever 
his  influence  extended.  Profoundly  skilled  in  his  pro- 
fession and  high  in  the  confidence  of  his  fellov^  citi- 
zens he  fell  a  victim  to  the  fatigues  and  exposures  of 
an  extensive  practice.  In  the  midst  of  a  brilliant  ca- 
reer, with  prospects  of  increasing  usefulness  and  ex- 
tended reputation  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  33.  He 
left  to  many  friends  a  mournful  inheritance — the  task 
of  lamenting  one  so  highly  gifted,  so  prematurely  lost. 
To  his  memory  this  volume  is  inscribed  as  a  testimonial 
of  long  continued  friendship  and  of  unabated  respect. 
It  is  am.ong  the  incidents  which  embitter  life  that  those 
v.'ho  have  shared  in  common  labors  should  so  often  be 
separated  before  the  termination  of  their  pursuits.  The 
individuals  who  took  most  interest  in  this  sketch  scarce- 
ly lived  to  see  the  commencement  of  its  publication.  It 
is  to  the  dead  that  the  author  has  to  consecrate  the  re- 
sults of  his  labours." 


35 


STEPHEN  ELLIOTT. 


Stephen  Elliott,  botanist,  was  born  in  Beaufort,  S. 
C,  November  11,  1771 ;  died  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  March 
28,  1830.  He  was  the  son  of  William  Elliott,  who  set- 
tled in  Beaufort,  purchased  land  and  married  in  1760 
Mary  Barnwell,  a  grand-daughter  of  John  Barnwell. 
The  father  died  while  Stephen  was  a  child,  but  his 
elder  brother,  William,  took  good  care  of  his  education. 
After  the  preliminary  studies,  he  entered  Yale  College 
in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  age  and  graduated  in  1791. 
At  this  time  he  delivered  an  English  oration  on  ''The 
Supposed  Degeneracy  of  Animated  Nature,"  and  took 
one  of  the  highest  honors  in  his  class.  Among  his  col- 
lege companions  were  Chancellor  Jones,  Samuel  Miles 
Hopkins,  of  New  York,  and  Judge  Gould,  of  Litchfield, 
Conn. 

.  In  1796  Stephen  Elliott  married  Miss  Esther  Haber- 
sham of  Georgia,  and  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the 
State  Legislature,  in  which  he  continued  to  serve  until 
the  establishment  of  the  "Bank  of  the  State"  in  1812, 
of  which  he  was  elected  president.  He  then  removed 
with  his  family  to  Charleston.  All  his  leisure  hours 
had  for  many  years  been  devoted  to  natural  science 
and  to  botany  in  particular.  Mr.  Elliott  was  here  con- 
sidered the  leader  in  all  associations  for  their  advance- 
ment. He  was  instrumental  in  the  formation  of  the  Lit- 
erary and  Philosophical  Society  in  1813,  and  aided  it  by 
inviting  to  his  own  house,  at  stated  periods,  such  gen- 
tlemen as  were  most  interested  in  the  scheme.  In  1814 
he  delivered  the  first  anniversary  address  to  that  insti- 
tution, remarkable  alike  for  its  elegance  of  diction  and 
the  capacity  of  mind  which  it  revealed — that  of  em- 
bracing such  various  pursuits  of  science.  His  object 
was  not  only  to  explain  their  relation  to  each  other  as 
branches  of  literature,  but  to  encourage  the  members 


36 

to  add  zeal  to  knowledge  and  perseverance  to  enter- 
prise. He  took  the  lead  in  what  he  recommended,  and 
delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  botany  gratuitously  to 
a  large  class  of  ladies  and  gentlemen.  He  likewise, 
in  conjunction  with  Hugh  S.  Legare,  became  editor  of 
the  ''Southern  Review,"  and  himself  contributed  many 
articles. 

Mr.  Elliott  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  warmest  ad- 
vocates for  the  establishment  of  the  Medical  College 
in  1825,  and  was  elected  one  of  the  faculty,  as  profes- 
sor of  natural  history  and  botany.  His  most  elaborate 
and  valuable  work,  his  "Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,"  w^as  written  and  published  in 
the  midst  of  these  laborious  engagements,  financial  and 
scientific;  the  first  volume  appearing  in  the  year  1821, 
and  the  second  in  1824.  This  accumulation  of  business 
mental  and  bodily,  was  too  great  for  him  to  sustain;  he 
died  suddenly  in  1830,  struck  down  by  apoplexy. 

Contemporary  with  him  we  find  Shecut  and  Mac- 
bride,  the  latter  of  whom  specially  assisted  Elliott  in 
his  botanical  work.  In  his  ''Medical  and  Philosophical 
Essays"  Shecut  has  the  following  to  say  with  regard 
to  Elliott's  botanical  work: 

"In  the  year  1817  Mr.  Elliott  commenced  the  publica- 
tion of  his  "Sketches  of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,"  of  which  five  numbers  of  the  first 
volume,  accompanied  with  several  highly  finished 
plates  of  grasses,  is  completed.  Of  the  merits  of  this 
work  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  anything  in  this  place. 
The  well  known  talents  of  the  author,  his  travels  and 
close  attention  to  botany,  particularly  that  of  his  native 
and  her  sister  States,  are  its  guarantees. 

"As  a  direct  and  truly  scientific  classification,  and 
arrangement  of  plants  indigenous  to  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  containing  several  new  and  hitherto  un- 
known or  nondescript  species,  together  with  a  mass  of 
valuable  information  with  regard  to  the  agricultural 
advantages  and  medicinal  properties  of  many  species, 
this  work  may  be  justly  considered  the  best  on  the 


37 

botany  of  these  States  that  has  been  yet  offered  to  the 
public." 

Bibliography. 

Elliott,  Stephen— ''Napoleon  Bonaparte."      (Article 
in  Southern  Review,  No.  1.) 

''On  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.     (South- 
ern Review,  No.  2.) 

|lrving's  Columbus."     (Southern  Review,  No.  3.) 
''Travels  in  Russia."     (Southern' Review,  No.  3.) 
''Napoleon  Bonaparte."     (Southern  Review,  No.  3.) 
"Views    of    Nature    and    Internal    Improvements!" 
(Southern  Review,  No.  4.) 

'^Walsh's  Narrative."     (Southern  Review,  No.  6.) 
"Education  in  Germany."      (Southern  Review,  No. 

"Classification  of  Plants."      (Southern  Review,  No 
8.) 

"Bourrienne's  Memoires."      (Southern  Review,   No 
10.) 

"Catalogue  of  Books  in  the  Charleston  Library." 
"A  Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina  and  Geor- 
gia."    Two  vols.,  1821-1824. 


38 


HENRY  W.  RAVENEL. 


Henry  W.  Ravenel,  botanist,  was  born  in  St.  John's 
Parish,  Berkeley,  S.  C,  May  19,  1814;  died  in  Aiken,  S. 
C,  July  17,  1887.  He  was  graduated  at  the  South  Car- 
olina College  in  1832,  and  settled  in  St.  John's,  where 
he  became  a  planter.  In  1853  he  removed  to  Aiken, 
S.  C,  and  there  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

As  a  young  man  he  evinced  a  fondness  for  natural 
history  and  pursued  studies  in  botany  with  enthusi- 
asm throughout  his  long  life.  He  studied  critically  the 
phaenogams  of  South  Carolina,  extending  also  his 
work  largely  into. the  field  of  cryptogamic  botany.  Mr. 
Ravenel  discovered  a  large  number  of  new  species  of 
cryptogams  and  besides  not  a  few  new  phaenogams. 
With  the  probable  exception  of  the  Rev.  Moses  A.  Cur- 
tis, he  was  the  only  American  of  his  time  who  knew 
specifically  the  fungi  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  any  other  botanist  has  covered  so 
wide  a  range  of  plants. 

In  1869  he  was  appointed  a  botanist  of  the  Govern- 
ment commission  that  was  sent  to  Texas  to  investigate 
the  cattle  disease  prevalent  there,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  botanist  to  the  department  of  agri- 
culture of  South  Carolina.  The  degree  of  LL.  D.  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  college  in  Winston-Salem, 
N.  C,  several  years  before  his  death. 

Unfortunately  Dr.  Ravenel's  deafness  prevented  his 
acceptance  of  two  offers  of  a  professorship  in  botany — 
one  in  a  college  in  Baltimore,  which  offered  to  establish 
a  chair  of  botany  if  he  would  fill  it;  the  other  in  a  col- 
lege in  California.  He  was  a  member  of  various  societies 
in  the  United  States  and  Europe.  In  1849  he  was  elected 
a  correspondent  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences. 
A  few  years  later  he  was  elected  a  member  of  a  scien- 
tific association  in  Vienna. 


HENRY  W.  RAVENEL 
A.  B.  1832,  South  Carolina  College 


39 

The  following  is  a  reprint  of  the  membership  card : 

Die 

Kaiserlich  Konigliche 

Zoologisch  botanische  Gesellschaft 

in 

Wien 

ernannt 

Herrn 

H.  W.  Ravenel,  Esq., 

als 

Mitglied 

Wien  am  5  Jahrer  1883. 

Collorid  Miensfuht, 

Prasident. 
Brunner  von  Wattenwyl, 

Vice  Prasident. 
Claus  J.  Rogenhofafs, 

Secretar. 

He  was  agricultural  editor  of  'The  Weekly  News  and 
Courier,"  and  in  addition  to  his  botanical  papers,  he 
published  'Tungi  Carolifliani  Exsiccati,"  (5  volumes: 
Charleston,  1853-60,)  and  with  Mordecai  C.  Cooke  of 
London  as  joint  author,  'Tungi  Americani  Exsiccati," 
(8  volumes,  1878-82.)  The  most  valuable  part  of  his 
excellent  Herbarium,  (the  cryptogamic  part)  was  sold 
to  the  British  museum  in  1893.  The  remainder,  the 
phaenogamic,  was  sold  to  Converse  College  some  years 
later. 

The  following  is  quoted  from  the  ''Ravenel  Records," 
p.  62  et  seq. : 

"Henry  W.  Ravenel,  LL.  D.,  who  was  born  at  Pooshee, 
St.  John's,  Berkeley,  May  19,  1814,  removed  to  Aiken 
in  1853,  and  died  July  17,  1887,  was  a  botanist  of  more 
than  national  reputation. 

"In  the  Transactions  of  the  Huguenot  Society  of 
South  Carolina,'  No.  1,  it  is  said  that  he  rose  to  the  first 
rank  of  American  scientists.    He  was  correspondent  of 


40 

world  renowned  societies,  and  of  men  of  learning,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Zoological  and  Botanical  Society 
of  Vienna. 

"The  best  known  of  his  works  is  "The  Fungi  Caro- 
liniani  Exsiccati,"  in  five  volumes;  which  appeared 
1853-60.  This  was  the  first  published  series  of  named 
specimens  of  American  fungi,  of  which  only  thirty 
were  issued.  At  a  later  period  he,  in  connection  with 
Prof.  M.  C.  Cooke,  of  England,  published  in  England  a 
second  series,  'Fungi  Americani  Exsiccati.'  These 
copies  were  sold  at  five  guineas  each." 

"In  1869  he,  with  Prof.  Gangee,  was  appointed  by  the 
United  States  Government  to  investigate  the  cattle  dis- 
ease known  as  ''milk  sick,"  then  prevailing  in  Texas. 
The  common  opinion,  and  one  may  hear  it  all  over  the 
mountains  of  Western  Carolina  to  this  day,  is  that  cows 
are  affected  with  this  disease,  so  dangerous  to  mankind, 
by  eating  a  poisonous  plant.  The  exhaustive  report  of 
these  botanists  is  said  to  disprove  this  theory. 

"In  a  long  article  in  the  Botanical  Gazette,  published 
at  Crawfordsville,  Indiana,  August,  1887,  it  is  said: 
"The  name  of  Ravenel  will  be  perpetuated  in  the  genus 
Ravenelia  of  the  Uredineae,  a  genus  so  peculiar  in  its 
character  that  it  is  not  probable  that  it  will  ever  be 
reduced  to  a  synonym.  One  genus  and  fifty  new  species 
of  plants  have  been  named  after  him.  His  researches 
were  original,  and  it  is  fairly  claimed  that  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  cryptogamic  flora  of  the  Southern  States 
exceeded  that  of  any  other  person;  and  for  a  long  time 
he  and  his  friend,  Dr.  M.  A.  Curtis,  were  the  only  Amer- 
icans who  knew  specifically  the  fungi  of  the  United 
States. 

It  is  said  that  he  was  better  known  and  appreciated 
in  Europe  than  in  this  country." 


41 
Bibliography. 

Ravenel,  H.  W.  Catalogue  of  the  Natural  Orders  of 
Plants  in  the  Vicinity  of  the  Santee  Canal,  as  Repre- 
sented by  Genera  and  Species.     Proc.  Am.  Ass    Adv 
Science.    Vol.  3,  1850. 

—Notice  of  Some  New  and  Rare  Plants  Found  in  this 
State.    Proc.  Elliott  Soc.  1856. 

—Description  of  a  New  Species  of  Baptisia  (with 
plate.)     Proc.  Elliott  Soc.  1856. 

—Some  Rare  Southern  Plants.  Bull.  Torrey  Bot 
Club.    N.  Y.  1876. 

— Contribution  to  the  Cryptogamic  Botany  of  South 
Carolina.     Southern  Med.  Journ. 

— List  of  Books.  Pamphlets.  Catalogues  and  Con- 
tributions to  Scientific  Magazines  relating  to  the  Botany 
of  this  State.  South  Carolina  Resources,  etc.,  p  368, 
1888. 

— Fungi  Caroliniani  Exsiccati.  Charleston.  5  vols. 
1853-1860. 

— Fungi  Americani.     London  8  vols.     1878-1882. 


42 


LEWIS  R.  GIBBES. 


Lewis  R.  Gibbes,  eldest  son  of  Lewis  Ladson  Gibbes, 
and  Maria  Henrietta  Drayton,  was  born  in  Charleston, 
S.  C,  August  14,  1810;  died  on  November  21,  1894,  at 
the  same  place.  A  part  of  his  early  educational  train- 
ing he  received  at  the  Grammar  School  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  years  1821 
and  1822,  then  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  James 
Whitbank ;  but  his  preparation  for  college  was  made  in 
the  Pendleton  Academy,  Pendleton,  S.  C,  in  the  years 
1823  to  1827.  December  27,  1827,  he  was  granted  ad- 
mission to  the  junior  class  of  the  South  Carolina  Col- 
lege and  graduated  in  December,  1829,  with  the  highest 
honors. 

Upon  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  in 
the  office  of  Dr.  Arthur  S.  Gibbes,  of  Pendleton.  He  had 
been  interested  since  boyhood  in  the  subject  of  botany, 
his  mother  being  somewhat  of  a  botanist  herself;  and 
while  here  he  entered  upon  the  study  of  botany  in  the 
fields  and  forests  surrounding  his  father's  residence.  At 
the  request  of  the  trustees,  he  took  charge  of  Pendleton 
Academy,  giving  instruction  in  the  classics  and  math- 
ematics until  a  permanent  principal  could  be  selected. 
In  November  he  went  to  Charleston  to  enter  the  office  of 
Dr.  John  Wagner,  and  at  the  same  time  took  his  first 
course  of  lectures  in  the  Medical  College  of  the  State  of 
South  Carolina.  He  was  elected  December  3,  1831, 
tutor  in  mathematics  at  the  South  Carolina  College,  in 
place  of  Isaac  W.  Hayne,  resigned.  While  tutor  he  con- 
tinued the  study  of  botany  in  the  woods  and  sandhills 
around  Columbia,  and  that  of  medicine  in  the  office  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Wells.  The  results  of  this  work  were  pub- 
lished in  October,  1835,  in  a  small  pamphlet,  entitled 
''A  Catalogue  of  the  Phaenogamous  Plants  of  Colum- 


43 

bia,  S.  C.  and  Its  Vicinity,"  which  contains  the  names  of 
about  900  species,  with  notes  on  some  of  them. 

About  this  time  a  reorganization  of  the  College  took 
place,  and  Mr.  Gibbes  found  his  tutorship  abolished 
and  himself  constituted  acting  professor  of  mathemat- 
ics. He  continued  to  act  in  this  capacity  until  the  close 
of  the  college  term  in  June,  1835. 

Returning  to  Charleston,  he  took  his  second  course 
in  the  Medical  College  of  the  State,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  degree  of  M.  D.  in  March,  1836,  receiving  the 
prize  cup  for  the  French  essay.  He  then  sailed  for 
France,  and  pursued  in  1836-37  his  studies  at  Paris, 
under  the  ablest  professors  at  the  Sorbonne.  While  here 
he  was  a  constant  visitor  to  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  and 
from  the  professors  there  employed  he  obtained  botan- 
ical and  conchological  specimens  in  exchange  for  those 
carried  over  by  him  from  this  country.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  his  Herbarium  contained  more  than  4,000 
specimens. 

In  November,  1837,  he  returned  to  Charleston,  and 
was  elected  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  College  of 
Charleston  in  February,  1838,  a  position  which  he  filled 
for  more  than  fifty-four  years.  Though  originally  a 
teacher  of  mathematics,  his  subsequent  instruction  em- 
braced astronomy,  mechanics,  physics  and  chemistry. 
In  1853  he  declined  the  professorship  of  mathematics 
in  the  South  Carolina  College.  From  1848  to  1853  he 
did  much  work  in  the  United  States  Coast  survey.  Be- 
ginning with  1837,  he  wrote  articles  on  subjects  con- 
nected with  astronomy,  natural  history,  etc.,  for  various 
publications.  An  article  "On  the  Occultator,"  publish- 
ed in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  March,  1869, 
was  reprinted  in  journals  in  England  and  France. 

In  Vol.  I,  Proceedings  of  the  Elliott  Scjciety  we  find 
the  following  statement.  "Prof.  Gibbes,  after  most 
faithful  service  as  president  for  37  years,  declined  re- 
election." 

Of  his  work.  Prof.  R.  Means  Davis  had  the  following 
to  say  in  a  short  article  in  a  publication  entitled  "The 


44 

Centennial  celebration  of  the  granting  of  the  charter  to 
South  Carolina  College:" 

''While  his  favorite  study  was  astronomy,  he  was  at 
home  in  almost  every  branch  of  modern  science.  The 
variety  of  his  knowledge  was  as  remarkable  as  its 
range.  Natural  history  was  a  branch  which  he  eagerly 
pursued,  and  in  which  he  was  the  colleague  of  Agassiz, 
of  Holbrook  and  of  Bachman.  As  an  astronomer,  he 
made  many  practical  calculations.  Next  to  astronomy, 
botany  engrossed  his  affections.  His  mind  possessed 
the  range  of  the  telescope,  the  accuracy  of  the  micro- 
scope, and  the  variety  of  the  kaleidoscope.  Prof.  Gibbes 
was  always  a  teacher;  not  only  as  a  duty,  but  at  home, 
by  the  way,  everywhere  as  w^ell  as  in  his  chair  as  a  pub- 
lic teacher.  He  proclaimed  the  same  lofty  ideal  as  was 
embodied  in  the  remark  of  Agassiz:  1  have  no  time  to 

make  money.' 
************ 

"The  wife  of  a  professor  in  Yale,  who  knew  and  hon- 
ored him,  thus  writes  of  his  burial  place:  'And  now  he 
lies  at  rest  under  the  live  oaks  and  magnolias,  and  the 
little  plants  he  loved  and  knew  so  well  will  bloom  above 
him,  and  the  stars  he  traced  in  their  courses  will  shine 
down  upon  him  in  the  earth  of  his  own  well-beloved  and 
native  land.'  " 

To  his  work,  the  following  tribute  was  paid  by  one  of 
his  life-long  friends,  the  Rev.  C.  C.  Pinckney:  "The 
trees,  the  flowers,  the  shrubs,  the  grapes,  the  s^eds,  the 
fruit  all  engaged  his  scientific  eye.  From  the  scanty  her- 
bage on  the  seashore  to  the  lofty  firs  of  the  AJJeghanies, 
the  vegetable  kingdom  was  his  familiar  frieiaflj," 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Gibbes,  Lewis  R. — "A  Catalogue  of  the  Phaenogam- 
ous  Plants  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  and  Its  Vicinity." — 
Pamphlet.  1835. 

— "Accentuation  of  Names  in  Natural  History."  Vol. 
I,  Proceedings  Elliott  Society.    1857. 


45 

. — ''Convenient  Form  of  the  Aspirator,"  Vol.  I,  Pro- 
ceedings of  Elliott  Society,  1858. 

—''Botany  of  Edings's  Bay,"  Vol."  I,  Proceedings  of 
Elliott  Society,  1857. 

— "Notice  of  the  Phenomena  Attending  the  Shock  of 
the  Earthquake  of  December  19,  1857.  Vol.  I,  Pro- 
ceedings Elliott  Society,  1857. 

—"Monograph  of  Genus  Cryptopodia/'  Vol.  I,  Pro- 
ceedings Elliott  Society,  1854. 

— "Description  with  Figures  of  Six  Species  of  Por- 
cellana  Inhabiting  Eastern  Coast  of  North  America," 
Vol.  I,  Proceedings  Elliott  Society,  1854. 

—"Description  of  Ramlia  Mmicata/'  Vol.  I,  Proceed- 
ings Elliott  Society,  1857. 

.^"Discovery  of  a  New  Species  of  Fir  in  the  Moun- 
tains of  North  Carolina ;  Allied  to  Abre's  Canadensis. 
Purpose  to  Call  it  Abre's  Carolinensis.  Proceedings  El- 
liott Society,  1858. 

—"On  the  Occultator,"  Vol.  I,  Proceedings  Elliott 
Society,  1868. 

— "Synoptical  Table  of  the  Chemical  Elements," 
Vol.  II,  Proceedings  Elliott  Society,  1875.. 

—"The  Identity. of  the  Comets,  1886  b,"  1844  b,  and 
1678."    Proceedings  Elliott  Society,  Vol.  II.' 

— "Observations  of  Earthquake  of  1886,"  Vol  II,  Pro- 
ceedings Elliott  Society,  1887. 

— "Note  on  Pieris  Rapae/'  Vol.  II,  Proceedings  Elliott 
Society,  1887. 

— "A  Portable  and  Easily  Made  Heliotrope,"  Vol.  II, 
Proceedings  Elliott  Society,  1887. 

— "Note  on  the  usual  Methods  of  Demonstrating  the 
Arithmetical  Rule  for  Finding  the  Area  of  a  Triangle 
when  the  Three  Sides  Are  Given,"  Vol.  II,  Proceedings 
Elliott  Society,  1887. 

—"Notice  of  Stalactites  Formed  in  Artificial  Struc- 
tures," Vol.  II,  Proceedings  Elliott  Society,  1889. 


46 


FRANCIS  PEYRE  PORCHER. 


Francis  Peyre  Porcher,  physician  and  botanist,  was 
born  in  St.  John's,  Berkeley  Parish,  Charleston,  S.  C, 
December  14,  1825.  He  was  descended  from  Isaac 
Porcher,  a  French  Huguenot,  who  emigrated  from 
France  at  the  time  of  the  persecution  of  the  Huguenots 
by  the  Catholic  Church  as  a  result  of  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  the  harsh  and  impolitic  act  of 
Louis  XIV.  His  preparatory  training  was  received  at 
the  Mount  Zion  Academy,  and  in  1844  he  was  graduated 
from  the  South  Carolina  College  with  the  degree  of 
A.  B.  From  the  Medical  College  of  South  Carolina  at 
Charleston,  he  was  graduated  in  1847  with  the  degree 
of  M.  D.,  taking  the  first  honor  place  in  a  class  of 
seventy-six  medical  students.  His  thesis,  which  was 
published  by  the  College  faculty,  was  entitled  "A 
Medico-Botanical  Catalogue  of  the  Plants  and  Ferns 
of  St.  John's,  Berkeley,  South  Carolina."  Dr.  Porcher 
afterward  spent  two  years  in  attendance  upon  the 
medical  schools  in  Paris,  also  passing  some  time  in 
Florence,  Italy,  where  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
Italian  language. 

Dr.  Porcher  returned  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  as- 
sisted in  establishing  the  Charleston  Preparatory  Medi- 
cal School,  and  was  subsequently  elected  professor  in 
the  chairs  of  clinical  medicine  and  of  materia  medica 
and  therapeutics  in  the  Medical  College  of  the  State. 
He  was  for  five  years  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "Charles- 
ton Medical  Journal  and  Review,"  and  also  assisted  in 
editing  and  publishing  four  volumes  after  the  War  Be- 
tween the  States.  He  prepared  by  order  of  the  Sur- 
geon-General of  the  Confederate  States  a  volume  of 
over  700  pages,  entitled  **The  Resources  of  the  South- 
ern Fields  and  Forests."  This  was  essentially  a  medi- 
cal botany  of  the  Confederate  States.     The  book  was 


FRANCIS  PEYRE  PORCHER 
A.  B.  1844,  South  Carolina  College 


47 

of  such  value  and  interest  as  to  warrant  the  issuance  by 
its  author  of  a  revised  edition  in  1869. 

Dr.  Porcher,  with  his  two  brothers,  served  throug-h- 
out  the  War  Between  the  States.  He  was  surgeon  to 
the  Holcombe  Legion,  to  the  Naval  Hospital  at  Norfolk 
harbor,  and  to  the  South  Carolina  Hospital  at  Peters- 
burg, Va.  His  contributions  on  medical  subjects  to 
medical  publications  have  been  numerous  and  valu- 
able. Articles  from  his  pen  appeared  in  "The  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,"  ''The  Charleston 
Medical  Journal  and  Review"  and  other  journals  North 
and  South.  Some  of  his  most  important  contributions 
were  upon  yellow  fever,  diseases  of  the  heart,  and  on 
the  medical  and  edible  properties  of  cryptogamic 
plants  and  on  gastric  remittent  fevers. 

Dr.  Porcher  was  president  of  the  South  Carolina  Med- 
ical Association,  of  the  Medical  Society  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  vice-president  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. He  was  a  member  of  the  American  committee 
of  the  World's  International  Medical  Congress,  and 
also  at  the  meeting  in  Rome,  Italy,  1893.  He  was  also 
president  of  the  section  on  General  Medicine,  Pan- 
American  Congress  in  1892  ;  member  of  the  Association 
of  American  Physicians,  and  an  Associate  Fellow  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  in  Philadelphia.  The  degree 
of  LL.  D.  was  at  the  commencement  in  May,  1891,  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  University  of  South  Carolina. 
He  collected  as  a  part  of  his  botanical  work  a  consid- 
erable number  of  plants  for  preservation,  and  this  her- 
barium of  his  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Charleston 
Museum. 

Bibliography. 

Porcher,  Francis  Peyre. — ''Medico-Botanical  Cata- 
logue of  the  Plants  and  Ferns  of  St.  John's,  Berkeley, 
S.  C,"  1847. 

— "Sketch  of  the  Medical  Botany  of  South  Caro- 
lina."   1849. 


48 

"Medicinal,  Poisonous  and  Dietetic  Properties  of 

the  Cryptogamic  Plants  of  the  United  States,"  (being 
a  report  made  to  the  American  Medical  Association  at 
its  session  held  at  Richmond,  Va.,  and  St.  Louis,  Mo.) 
1854. 

"Resources  of  the  Southern  Fields  and  Forests.'* 

Pub.  by  order  of  the  Surgeon-General,  Confederate 
States  of  America.    1863. 

"Resources  of  the  Southern  Fields  and  Forests." 

(Second  edition.)    1869. 

— ''Illustrations  of  Disease  with  the  Microscope. 
Clinical  Investigations,  with  upwards  of  five  hundred 
original  drawings  from  Nature  and  one  hundred  and 
ten  Illustrations  in  Wood."     1860. 


49 


JOSEPH  HINSON  MELLICHAMP. 


Joseph  Hinson  Mellichamp,  physician  and  botanist, 
was  born  in  St.  Luke's  Parish,  South  Carolina,  May  9, 
1829.  His  father  was  for  many  years  preceptor  of 
Beaufort  College,  and  afterwards  was  pastor  of  St. 
James  Church,  on  James  Island.  Himself  a  lover  of 
outdoor  life  and  of  natural  objects,  he  influenced  the 
tastes  of  his  son  in  the  same  direction  and  especially  for 
botany,  an  influence  which  continued  throughout  his 
life. 

In  1849  Joseph  Hinson  Mellichamp  was  graduated  from 
South  Carolina  College  and  in  1852  from  the  Medical 
College  at  Charleston.  He  then  spent  some  time  in 
Europe,  studying  in  the  hospitals  of  Dublin  and  Paris. 
On  his  return  he  established  himself  as  a  physician  at 
Bluffton,  S.  C,  and  here  he  remained  most  of  his  life, 
the  exceptions  being  the  time  when  he  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  army  of  the  Confederacy,  and  when,  during  the 
last  years,  much  of  his  time  was  spent  with  his  daugh- 
ter and  only  child  in  New  Orleans. 

His  extended  practice  among  the  planters  and  their 
dependents  made  strong  demands  on  his  time,  but  he 
found  time  for  much  botanical  research  and  collecting. 
In  the  interesting  floral  region  around  him  were  many 
of  the  rarer  species  described  by  Walter,  Michaux  and 
Elliott.  Specimens  of  these  were  much  prized  by  the 
botanical  fraternity  and,  through  his  correspondents 
were  largely  and  freely  distributed,  finding  their  way 
into,  and  retaining  at  the  present  time,  a  place  in  many 
of  the  best  herbaria. 

His  advantageous  location  and  familiarity  with  the 
flora  of  his  locality  brought  him  into  intimate  touch 
with  many  of  the  contemporary  botanists  of  note.  In 
''The  Botanical  Works  of  the  late  George  Englemann," 
edited  by  Wm.  Trelease  and  Asa  Gray,  1887,  under 


50 

the  caption  "Notes  on  the  Genus  Yucca/'  Englemann 
has  the  following  to  say:  "Within  the  past  two  years 
an  unpretending  physician  of  South  Carolina,  Dr.  J.  H. 
Mellichamp,  who  does  not  even  claim  to  be  a  botanist, 
but  is  imbued  with  arduous  zeal  and  keen  sagacity  and 
who  lives  right  among  the  Yuccas,  has  wonderfully  im- 
proved his  opportunities,  and  has  very  greatly  aided  me 
in  my  investigation  by  specimens  as  well  as  by  his  ob- 
servations. I  may  add  here  that  also  on  other  families 
of  plants  of  his  rich  State,  already  so  long  and  well 
known  through  the  labors  of  a  Walter  and  an  Elliott, 
have  his  researches  shed  new  light  as  will  appear  in 

future  pages  of  these  transactions. 

♦        *        *        *        *        *        *■*        *        *        *        * 

**Dr.  Mellichamp's  notice  of  a  minute  drop  of  glutin- 
ous liquid  in  the  tube  formed  by  the  coalescence  of  the 
so-called  stigmas  led  me  on  to  further  experiments. 
That  tube  proved  to  be  the  real  stigma,  exuding  stig- 
matic  liquor  and  insects  (in  these  night-blooming  flow- 
ers, of  course,  nocturnal  insects)  must  be  the  agents 
which  introduced  the  pollen  into  the  tube." 

Under  his  treatment  of  the  **Coniferae,"  he  says  at 
the  conclusion  of  his  description  of  Pinus  Elliottii, 
Engelm,  New  Species: 

"P.  Elliottii  was  imperfectly  known  to  Elliott  and 
was  considered  by  him  a  form  of  P.  Taeda.  Later  bot- 
anists ignored  it,  till  Dr.  J.  H.  Mellichamp,  of  Bluffton, 
S.  C,  rediscovered  it  about  ten  years  ago,  and  directed 
my  attention  to  it.  Without  his  diligent  investigations, 
ample  information  and  copious  specimens,  this  paper 
could  not  have  been  written.  *  *  *  j  ^^^  partic- 
ularly indebted  to  Messrs.  Bolander,  Brewer,  Parry, 
and  Lemmon  for  their  contributions  of  the  Californian 
and  Rocky  Mountain  Conifers,  and  to  Messrs.  Canby, 
Oilman,  Ravenel,  and  Mellichamp  for  those  of  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  American  Pines." 

Sargent  in  his  Silva  of  North  America  says  of  Dr. 
Mellichamp  that  ''he  rendered  substantial  service  to 


JOSEPH  HINSON  MELLICHAMP 
A.  B.  1849,  South  Carolina  College 


51 

science"  *  *  *  ''and  I  am  glad  to  take  this  op- 
portunity to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  him  for 
the  assistance  he  has  rendered  me  by  studying  the 
trees,  and  especially  the  oaks  of  the  Carolina  Coast 
Region."  Dr.  Asa  Gray  also  noticed  him  in  a  highly 
complimentary  way. 

A  botanist  contemporary  with  Dr.  Mellichamp,  W.  H. 
Canby,  has  the  following  to  say  in  the  Torreya,  Vol.  4, 
No.  1,  January,  1904,  with  regard  to  the  work  and 
character  of  the  man : 

"His  good  judgment  in  making  observations  and 
clear  statements  of  the  results  brought  him  the  cor- 
respondence and  esteem  of  Doctors  Gray,  Engelmann 
and  other  masters  of  the  science.  For  Dr.  Englemann 
he  investigated  the  flowering  and  fruiting  of  some 
species  of  Yucca,  the  peculiar  oaks  of  his  region,  and 
especially  Pinus  Elliottii,  which  he  practically  discov- 
ered, and,  in  the  excellent  notes  he  furnished,  ade- 
quately described.  Very  acute  observations  on  the  in- 
sectivorous habits  of  Sarracenia  variolaris  were  pub- 
lished in  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  In  this  paper  he  re- 
corded his  discovery  of  the  lure  by  which  insects  are 
tempted  to  the  fatal  pitcher  of  the  leaf;  of  the  fact  that 
the  secretion  therein  is  more  or  less  of  an  intoxicant; 
and  the  curious  fact  that  the  larva  of  a  certain  insect 
was  able  to  resist  the  secretion  and  feed  upon  the  de- 
caying mass.  Dr.  Sargent,  in  his  Sylva  of  North  Amer- 
ica, acknowledges  his  services  in  the  studies  of  oaks 
and  other  trees.  Dr.  Gray  so  esteemed  his  assistance 
that  he  named  a  Mexican  Asclepiad  in  his  honor,  Mel- 
Uchampia.  Desirous  of  helping  others,  he  was  one  of 
those  men  who,  diffident  and  retiring,  and  not  caring 
to  advance  their  own  fame,  always  willingly  give  others 
the  benefit  of  the  knowledge  they  have  acquired.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  but  for  him  considerable  of 
value  would  have  remained  unknown  of  the  flora  of 
his  district;  grateful  acknowledgments  of  this  have 
come  from  European  as  well  as  American  botanists. 


52 

'*Dr.  Mellichamp  was  an  ardent  lover  of  nature,  with 
a  poetic  and  artistic  spirit,  and  his  letters  teem  with 
fine  descriptions  of  the  various  objects  which  attracted 
him  in  his  professional  drives  about  the  country.  He 
was  wont,  as  the  spring  approached,  to  speak  of  the 
exceeding  beauty  of  the  young  flowers  of  Pinus  Elliot- 
tii,  as  they  expanded  their  cones  over  the  trees,  crown- 
ing their  robes  of  green  with  a  haze  of  purple.  His 
letters  show  the  keenest  sense  of  the  loveliness  and  de- 
licious warmth  of  a  spring  in  the  pines  with  flowers 
opening  everywhere,  the  fragrance  of  the  woods,  of 
jessamine  and  of  magnolias  filling  the  air  made  vocal 
with  the  songs  of  mocking  birds. 

''But  best  of  all,  he  was  a  man  to  be  loved  for  his  quali- 
ties of  heart  and  mind.  A  magnetic  and  attractive  man, 
his  friends  and  correspondents  cannot  forget  his  ready 
kindness  and  words  of  cheer,  and  will  cherish  his  mem- 
ory. He  was  loved  by  the  poor  people  of  his  district, 
who,  in  a  touching  way,  mourned  the  loss  of  their  *old 
doctor'  as  his  body  was  borne  to  the  grave.  As  might 
have  been  supposed,  he  was  intensely  Southern  in  his 
feelings  and  in  his  love  for  his  native  State.  He  now 
rests  in  her  bosom;  and  the  well  known  lines,  slightly 
altered,  may  well  be  applied  to  him;  "Little  he'll  reck 
if  they  let  him  sleep  on  in  the  grave  where  a  Southron 
has  laid  him.'  " 

The  following  notice  appeared  in  the  Botanical  Ga- 
zette for  November,  1903 :  "Dr.  Joseph  H.  Mellichamp, 
an  ardent  student  of  the  Southern  flora,  died  October 
2,  in  James  Island,  S.  C." 


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